


What’s in a Name

by John_Steiner



Category: LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS (Cartoon), distant future - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:35:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22548652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: Three synthetic organisms constructed to look human venture into the ruins of a Romanian church overrun with natural growth millennia after the last of Earth-bound humanity died out. They discover that some of the structure isn't quite so ancient, and stumble across a corridor leading to a lab much newer than the church ruins. In rummaging through files written on synthetic paper the synthorgs learn a little about why they exist.
Kudos: 2





	What’s in a Name

"Where are we?" TJA-723 asked the synthorg leading the trio.

"Romania, according to the last geographic update in the file," YPG-307 replied, "The geological shift since then has buried most of the ruins, but this part appears exposed to modern ecology."

"Beautiful," ZDU-944 transmitted, "Too bad humans didn't live to see their work today."

"Something's off about the architecture," TJA-723 observed, "There are elements that resemble something called baroque, but other aspects strike me as more related to ancient Asian design."

"I'm running cross-reference algorithms to get a date on it," YPG-307 stated while pointing to its head.

"What's that?" ZDU-944 pointed at something in the shadow of a four-archway.

"Looks newer than the rest," TJA-723 noted, "Let's check it out."

The three synthorgs carefully picked their steps around the stream that multiple waterfalls created, and then ascended the steps to the arches.

"That's can't be right," YPG-307 transmitted, while studying the more advanced door. "Text is in a format dating to the 3200's."

"The last human evacuated in 2701," ZDU-944 transmitted, "The rest who stayed died out before the end of the millennium."

YPG-307 opened the door forcefully, since it lacked power and the hinges corroded into immobility. Behind it were once sterile white walls now brown and black with mildew. The corridor led the synthorgs to an abandoned lab. None of the computers in the room worked, but notes were scrawled onto paper notepads.

"I thought they stopped using paper in the 2200's," TJA-723 recalled.

"Apparently, they went back to some synthetic fiber form of paper," YPG-307 speculated, 

"Given the tropical climate, paper would've rotted, but the computers likewise wouldn't fair so well over time," and then YPG-307 panned the room up to the ceiling, "Someone ran this lab for an awful long time."

TJA-723 flipped a page on the notebook, "They were cataloguing and studying toxicological effects of the region. That mildew on the walls back there would've been lethal to humans."

"Maybe they were trying to move back to Earth," ZDU-944 suggested.

"In Sequence Randomizer's name!" TJA-723 exclaimed on seeing the next page.

The other two sythorgs raced over to see what it found.

YPG-307 was the first to recover from the shock, "That's a synthorg. They didn't engineer us for thriving in space. They were planning on repopulating the Earth with something that could resist all the diseases, pollution, and the myriad of other hazards they created. They wanted something like humans to carry on their legacy. That's why they wanted us to look like them, and have synthetic cells. Only, when the last human died the earliest synthorgs opted to stay in the artificial habitat networks."

"Check this out," ZDU-944 pointed at writing under the synthorg drawing, "Apparently, our naming convention was meant to be a joke. Something called license plates followed the same letter and number pattern."

"With a sense of humor like that, they couldn't have been all bad," YPG-307 remarked.


End file.
